Pakistan says it struck seven militant hideouts near Afghan border after recent suicide attacks

Pakistan carried out intelligence-based strikes on seven militant camps and hideouts near its border with Afghanistan, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said early Sunday in a post on social media platform X.

The ministry said the targets belonged to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), referred to by the state as “Fitna al Khwarij,” and its affiliates, as well as the Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISKP).

The statement said the action was taken in the aftermath of recent suicide bombing incidents in Pakistan, including attacks at an Imam Bargah in Islamabad, and in Bajaur and Bannu districts in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Pakistan said it had conclusive evidence that the attacks were carried out by militants acting on the direction of Afghanistan-based leadership and handlers. It added that responsibility for the incidents had been claimed by Afghanistan-based TTP leadership and their affiliates, as well as ISKP.

Despite repeated efforts by Pakistan to urge Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities to prevent militant groups from using Afghan territory to carry out attacks inside Pakistan, the ministry said no substantive action had been taken.

It said the strikes were conducted as a retributive response and involved intelligence-based selective targeting carried out with “precision and accuracy” along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region.

Pakistan reiterated its call for Afghanistan’s interim government to deny the use of its territory by militants targeting Pakistan. It also urged the international community to play a constructive role by encouraging Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities to uphold commitments under the Doha Agreement to prevent attacks on other countries from its soil.

According to Tolo News, Pakistan allegedly conducted the airstrikes in Nangarhar and Pakitka. The Afghan Ministry of Defense condemned Sunday’s attacks, claiming they “hit a religious school and residential homes” in the border provinces of Nangarhar and Paktika, “resulting in dozens of deaths and injuries, including women and children”.

The announcement came days after a suicide bomber, backed by gunmen, rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the wall of a security post in Bajaur district, bordering Afghanistan. The blast caused part of the compound to collapse, killing 11 soldiers and a child. Authorities later said the attacker was an Afghan national.

Hours before the latest border strikes, another suicide bomber targeted a security convoy in nearby Bannu district, killing two soldiers, including a lieutenant colonel.

Following Saturday’s violence, Pakistan’s military warned it would not “exercise any restraint” and said operations against those responsible would continue irrespective of their location.

Pakistan has seen a surge in militant violence in recent years, much of it blamed on the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and outlawed Baloch separatist groups. Islamabad accuses the TTP of operating from inside Afghanistan, a charge denied by both the group and Kabul.

Relations between the neighboring countries have remained tense since October, when deadly border clashes killed dozens of soldiers, civilians and suspected militants. The violence followed explosions in Kabul that Afghan officials blamed on Pakistan.

A Qatar-mediated ceasefire has largely held, but talks in Istanbul failed to produce a formal agreement, and relations remain strained.